Chapter 46: Tactical Advancement (First Update~)

It was time for the seventh heat of the men's 100-meter preliminaries.

Before stepping onto the track, Ning Debao gave Su Shen a final word of advice. Su Shen was momentarily stunned, but seeing the mischievous grin on Ning Debao's face, he nodded in agreement.

Ning Debao's instruction was simple: there was no need to fight for first place; just finishing high enough to enter the semifinals would suffice.

That way, there would still be a chance to make it to the final.

Otherwise, if Su Shen tried to fight his way out during the semifinals, the difficulty would be immense. In fact, Zhou Bing had almost zero chance. However, before coming here, Ning Debao had carefully devised a set of tactics that might just allow Su Shen to pull off a miracle.

Su Shen smiled and nodded in acceptance.

Once on the track, his lane assignment wasn't great—he was all the way out in lane eight. Yet, Su Shen felt no nervousness whatsoever. The top seed in this heat bore the emblem of a "Five-Star Lotus," hailing from Mazu, and was named Bai Xiaohao. However, Bai Xiaohao was placed in lane one, and his personal best was only around 10.70-plus seconds, making him a relatively weak seed.

Furthermore, this heat could be considered a relatively weak one. As long as he managed to suppress the fairly decent flat-topped kid in lane four, it would be enough to secure a spot in the semifinals.

To be fair.

Compared to casual invitation tournaments, this kind of competition drew quite a few more spectators.

Although the majority of the crowd consisted of groups organized by schools, government offices, and local institutions, there were also quite a few local residents who came out to watch and join in the excitement.

This made the overall atmosphere of the stadium feel much more vibrant.

Even though less than half of the seats were filled, the cheering was still far louder than at the invitation meet.

The lighting and live commentary systems were all fully equipped as well.

Anyone attending for the first time might have found it overwhelming, but for Su Shen, what was an atmosphere like this?

He simply adjusted his starting blocks by himself and then began slowly loosening up his muscles.

Seeing this, Ning Debao nodded repeatedly. Su Shen's greatest asset was that he didn't get stage fright; it was truly an incredible trait. Otherwise, many athletes clearly performed well in training, only to completely fall apart once the race started and panic during official competitions.

When it came to Su Shen, it seemed there was entirely no need to worry about such issues.

He truly was a worry-free, top-tier disciple.

"All of you need to learn from Su Shen. Look at him, calm and composed on the field—that's how you ensure you don't underperform due to panic," Ning Debao said. Just as he finished speaking, the ready command echoed across the competition venue.

"On your marks."

"Set."

"Bang——————"

Su Shen surged out of the blocks, but his start wasn't fiercely explosive. Zhou Bing stared in a daze and muttered under his breath, "No way, Tian, why was this start so slow?" If anyone else had overheard him, they probably would have struck him, considering that even this start was already faster than anyone else's. Still, it clearly felt a bit different from the Su Shen in Zhou Bing's impression.

"Could it be that he didn't sleep well like me, or didn't eat enough for lunch?"

"Stop talking nonsense. This is my tactic," Ning Debao replied without elaborating, his eyes fixed firmly on the track, terrified that Su Shen might overdo it and mess things up.

Hiding Su Shen's super start here was a deliberate choice, intended for him to suddenly unleash his full power in the semifinals and turn everything upside down.

However, if he didn't run well in the preliminary heat, he was also prone to being eliminated.

This was a matter of trade-offs.

Should he play it safe or push for a breakthrough? Ning Debao had just consulted Su Shen on this very question, and the latter's answer had naturally been resolute.

He was not even sixteen years old yet; why play it safe?

There was only one word—charge!

The top seed of this heat clearly hadn't expected this inconspicuous teenager to run so fast right from the start. To avoid losing, Bai Xiaohao accelerated. This was a gap in absolute strength, and Su Shen had no real way to match it. Moreover, in order to preserve his "starting burst technique," he hadn't expended his maximum load in the first half of the race, which meant he failed to build any significant early lead.

Bai Xiaohao's raw strength was superior to his, and he quickly completed the chase. But no sooner had he caught up than the runner from the very outside lane emerged to contest him. Bai Xiaohao was astonished by Su Shen's strength. He himself was about to turn eighteen, yet he actually couldn't outrun a kid not even sixteen?

This kind of thing didn't happen often.

This wasn't yet an era of comprehensive internet connectivity, and Su Shen had only won a small-to-medium invitation tournament without gaining much fame.

To be logical.

Who among those standing on this stage hadn't won awards until their hands grew soft from all the invitation and regional competitions?

Su Shen's first-place finish at that invitation meet was really nothing special.

It wasn't enough to make them spare him a second glance.

Bai Xiaohao immediately ramped up his effort. Even though it was just a preliminary heat, he had no intention of losing to Su Shen.

At around the 75-meter mark, he truly began to surpass Su Shen, eventually crossing the finish line ahead by a full body length. Checking the time, it was 10.79 seconds. He had been forced into his limit zone right in the preliminaries—something Bai Xiaohao hadn't anticipated. Su Shen's appearance had placed immense pressure on him, causing him to run far too hard in the heat just to secure first place.

Fortunately, the format was one race per day, so there was no need to worry too much about physical fatigue.

Su Shen checked his time: 10.86 seconds, qualifying for the semifinals in second place.

The remaining third-place finisher in this heat clocked only 10.94 seconds, and none of the others broke the 11-second barrier.

After finishing the race, Su Shen didn't even pant much when he came off the track, because he hadn't exerted himself to the extreme. This only made Ning Debao even more convinced...

Su Shen definitely possessed the capability to break 10.85 seconds!

During the last internal team trials, because Zhou Tao had been eliminated early, lacking the stimulation of a strong rival, Su Shen hadn't even employed his lean technique at the end, yet he still ran a 10.85. Seeing today's performance only made him more certain.

He had asked Su Shen to hold back a trump card, which undoubtedly affected his time, and even with that restriction...

He still ran a 10.86.

It seemed that scientifically-driven training truly made a difference. With this kind of improvement, coupled with Zhou Bing and Chen Juan's progress, Ning Debao had completely come to believe Su Shen's words.

My friend, the times have changed.

She still remembered the title of the rebuttal article Su Shen had written. Perhaps the times really had changed.

If they lagged behind even a little, a whole batch of so-called "veteran coaches" and "old instructors" would probably be left without even their bones remaining in this "scientific tidal wave." For the very first time, Ning Debao truly and deeply felt...

Well, her luck was quite good.

...

"By the way, Coach."

"Who was that kid in lane eight? His strength is pretty formidable," Bai Xiaohao asked his coach immediately as he came off to rest, breathing heavily.

This race had been much harder than he had imagined, and he had to ask.

"Let me see... his name is Su Shen, a student at the Xiangshan Sports School. Currently... not even sixteen years old. In his very first invitation tournament, he beat Hong Kong's... Yi Xiaoqiang?" As the coach spoke, he stared in blank astonishment, as if he had never expected such a thing. In an era where the internet was underdeveloped, many records existed only on paper, making them truly inconvenient to look up.

"Yi Xiaoqiang? He beat Yi Xiaoqiang?" Logically speaking, Bai Xiaohao was in the same tier as Yi Xiaoqiang. Hearing that Su Shen had beaten Yi Xiaoqiang left him somewhat shocked. Fortunately, by this time his coach had caught his breath and added, "不過只有11多... Wait, it was only a bit over 11 seconds. That was a heavy headwind, so the time wasn't particularly fast. It was probably because Yi Xiaoqiang hadn't recovered from his injuries yet."

Clearly, this coach hadn't done any homework on Su Shen either; he was just cramming information temporarily.

Yet this was completely normal.

Su Shen was still young, lacked any prominent achievements to his name, and was a complete nobody. With so many people participating in the competition...

As a head coach, how could one possibly analyze and target every single person?

Look at Ning Debao—wasn't she doing the exact same thing?

How could you possibly investigate everyone? You'd work yourself to death. They only picked out the key points and selected high-profile athletes for intensive preparation. Otherwise, let alone this short while, the preliminary analysis alone would take days upon days. Preparation would be utterly out of the question.

It might even take...

Days and nights of analysis and still not be finished.

Therefore, individuals like this without fame were the ones most likely to become dark horses.

"He only ran a bit over 11 seconds last time?" Bai Xiaohao was slightly dazed. Just moments ago, the kid had run 10.86; this improvement was a bit too rapid.

"It's also possible he modified his age," his head coach remarked. "After all, we all know that's an old craft in this industry."

"Look at his build; he doesn't look like a kid under sixteen at all. That arm is a whole size thicker than yours." Hearing this, Bai Xiaohao nodded, essentially agreeing with this explanation.

...

Coming off the track, Su Shen saw Ning Debao and smiled. "Coach, my tactical execution was pretty good, right?"

"Not bad, not bad at all. If the semifinal heats are drawn favorably, there's a real chance of making the final." Seeing Su Shen successfully complete his mission, Ning Debao was in an even better mood than anyone could imagine. "Alright, let's go cheer for Zhou Bing. I can feel the tension radiating off that kid just standing nearby."

"He'll get used to it once he competes more. Who isn't nervous at the very beginning?" As soon as Su Shen said this, Ning Debao silently muttered inwardly—

I don't see you having any nervous system.

Whether Zhou Bing failed to perform or was simply too nervous, he ended up running a sluggish 11-second flat for the entire race. He ranked fifth among all competitors.

To be frank.

Running 11 seconds flat right now was far too slow. Furthermore, for athletes like them who had little hope of reaching the final, every single race required fighting with everything they had.

Such a result naturally left Ning Debao far from satisfied, and the moment Zhou Bing came off the track, he was met with a fierce scolding.

Ning Debao wasn't berating him for failing to make the semifinals, but rather because Zhou Bing hadn't displayed his actual level. Losing like this meant losing unjustly, losing without any dignity or satisfaction. If he had given it everything he had and still lost, that would have been fine.

Zhou Bing knew Ning Debao was right, but hearing her use Su Shen as an example, he couldn't help but complain internally—

Tian simply lacks a nervous system; how am I supposed to compare to him?

Even if you threw him into a national-level competition, he probably wouldn't get nervous.

And on that point, well, it was entirely true.

Whether at national-level competitions or even Asian-level events, Su Shen always remained relatively calm, without experiencing excessive emotional fluctuations.

On just the first day alone, a large wave of athletes from the sports school were eliminated, leaving less than half to advance.

Meanwhile, when Ning Debao saw the semifinal heat groupings for Su Shen, her fleeting joy vanished completely.